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As
far as “gaffes” go on a global scale, one cannot do much
worse than calling
the Japanese people
“Chinese.”
It is an error of racism and arrogance not easily washed away with an
apology. Saying such a thing is wincingly awful enough in casual
conversation. But doing so in front of a microphone is even worse.
Also, when committed by the head of the International Olympic
Committee, about as popular in Japan as trash on the sidewalk, such a
“gaffe” quickly becomes an international incident.
At
his first press conference after arriving in Tokyo for the Olympic
Games, IOC President Thomas Bach said, “Our common target is
safe and secure games for everybody; for the athletes, for all the
delegations, and most importantly also for the Chinese people.”
Bach quickly corrected himself. If it had been another person at
another place and in another time, perhaps the immediate correction
would have been the end of it. His interpreters chose to not even
translate the error. But it caused an uproar because Bach has already
been consecrated as the great villain of these Olympic Games: someone
demanding $30 billion, militarization for the sake of security, the
destruction of cherished forests and fish markets, and, above all,
“sacrifice” from the Japanese people.
Bach
is seen as the person who is ramming through the games even though
the city of Tokyo is under a state of emergency due to the
coronavirus pandemic. He is seen as flouting the will of the 80
percent of the population who want the games to be delayed. His
statement that the games will be “safe and secure” sounds
like something George W. Bush would say on an aircraft carrier. He
seems utterly insensitive to the fear that these Olympics could
provoke a super-spreader event among a largely unvaccinated
population. He doesn’t seem to care that 80,000 people are set
to descend onto the city, including athletes like
US swimmer Michael Andrew
who
are boasting about not taking the vaccine (and among top athletes,
Andrew is merely the loudest about being an anti-vaxxer.)
Bach
is also making clear through his actions that he sees himself as
absolved from obeying the strict rules aimed at limiting the spread
of Covid throughout the densely populated city. According Tokyo’s
strictures surrounding the state of emergency, Bach should be
isolating himself for 14 days in his five-star hotel suite. But this
Friday, he instead will be venturing out of Tokyo to
Hiroshima.
He wants a nice public relations moment where he can travel to Peace
Memorial Park and lay flowers at a monument for those killed in 1945,
when the United States dropped an atomic bomb on the city. Yet 30,000
Japanese people have signed a petition calling for this trip to be
canceled, not only because they see it as a political stunt that
“dishonors” the dead but also because he will be
violating the quarantine so needed to keep the coronavirus and all
its variants at bay. It is just another example of how Bach and his
cronies in the IOC simply don’t believe the rules apply to
them.
Bach
says that the Olympics will require a “great sacrifice”
from the people of Tokyo, praising their “great resilience and
spirit” and their ability “to overcome adversity.”
But this is not a sacrifice they asked for. It is one being imposed
by the IOC over the meek objections of Japanese leaders who—fearful
of lawsuits and of losing the billions they have already sunk into
the Games—seem to have handed the keys of the kingdom over to
Bach. He is in charge, like some kind of European imperial viceroy,
praising his subjects (if can remember what nationality they happen
to be) for their sacrifice while he oozes along with his entourage
around the countryside.
In
a piece written for the Nikkei
Times,
Tokyo-based journalist William Pesak asks
the question,
“Is there a limit to the Olympic sacrifices we must make?”
He writes, “Just out of curiosity, what is your over/under on
human sacrifice? I cannot speak for all of the greater Tokyo area’s
37 million sacrificers, but for me, it is a very hard ‘No.’”
Spread
of the coronavirus feels like an ugly inevitability. Yet even if the
worst-case scenario does not come to pass, this has already been an
exercise in waste, arrogance, and, yes, racism. The dehumanization of
the Japanese people is a prerequisite for forcing these Pandemic
Games on an unwilling population. Racism provides a pretext for going
ahead with the Games in the face of all logic. Accepting this
dehumanization and racism is a necessity for every Olympic booster
putting on blinders and ignoring the cries of resistance. If you
can’t see that, then listen to Thomas Bach. He’ll make
that reality clear, one gaffe at a time.
This
commentary was originally published by EdgeOfSports.com
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